Dinner with The Engineers

Last night, moving swiftly from the Big Curry thank you reception (see previous blog) I was at the Annual Awards Livery Dinner given by The Engineers at Plaisterers Hall. It is, as we know, a very big hall and it was full. The Engineers must be a fairly progressive lot as they were founded in 1983 --Founder Master a Marketor, Sir Peter Gadsden--and they were awarded their Royal Charter in 2004. No hanging about.
The Awards Dinner is clearly a major event in the Company's year. The Awards are divided into two categories: Civilian and Service which explains something that initially puzzled me: why were there so many armed forces personnel in full kit at the dinner? This incidentally is a Company whose members and Officers keep their service titles even though they are in civilian life, or retired. Always a strange habit I have thought. In civilian life retirees do not continue to use their work titles when they retire.
The Awards took the form of Medals, Financial Prizes and Certificates. There were six Civilian prizes awarded and eleven Service Awards. The Clerk did a masterly job of reading through all seventeen citations. It was a happy and impressive event with a minimum of speeches, excellent food and great efficiency--as you would expect from engineers.